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Newborn circumcised by mistake; mom sues hospital

Wed, 15/09/2010 - 10:22 by Natalie James

Now, Delgado is taking legal action against the hospital, not for a medical mistake, but for assault and battery on her newborn

A South Florida mother is suing a local Hospital and a doctor because her newly born baby boy allegedly was circumcised without the family’s permission, according to multiple U.S. reports, citing a press release from the woman’s lawyer.

The 30-year-old woman, named Vera Delgado, gave birth to her son Mario Viera in South Miami Hospital in August and told hospital staff members several times that she did not want Mario circumcised, reports ABC News.

Baby circumcised by mistake
Delgado says despite telling the hospital staff numerous times not to perform the procedure on her infant son, the doctors at the facility circumcised her son when he was still in the neonatal intensive care unit, according to the tabloid.

The new mother, who is unmarried and is Latino, says she went home briefly to take a shower and change her clothes eight days after giving birth to her son, Mario, who is now 4-weeks-old.

When Delgado returned she found the baby had been circumcised, by mistake.

Mom heartbroken
The unmarried mom says even her baby daddy, who is of Cuban descent and helping to raise Mario, does not support the child circumcision.

"It's a big hospital," said Delgado. "It's a good hospital, and I thought he's safe, he's good there."

The 30-year-old woman, named Vera Delgado, gave birth to her son Mario Viera in South Miami Hospital in August and told hospital staff members several times that she did not want Mario circumcised, reports ABC News.

"I was crying. I spent that day and the next day crying," she told CBS4's Gio Benitez exclusively last Friday after the circumcision of the child.

Hospital takes full responsibility
Meanwhile, the hospital admitted that made a huge blunder and that staff members "misread" the consent forms, CBS4 says.

In a statement, the hospital said, "The baby's circumcision was an unfortunate mistake caused by a misread consent form. As soon as the error was discovered, the doctor and nurses let the family know what had occurred. We also immediately implemented new processes to ensure this mistake will not occur again.

"The procedure itself was performed following appropriate surgical guidelines and the baby didn't have any complications. Nevertheless, we're all deeply sorry that this happened."

But, Delgado says she’s outraged because she culturally opposes the circumcision. However, it is turned out every man in Delgado's family is uncircumcised. It's a part of her family tradition, according to CBS4.

Delgado suing hospital, doctor for battery
Now, Delgado is taking legal action against the hospital, not for a medical mistake, but for assault and battery on her newborn.

"I know they apologized and everything, but it's done, the damage is done," said Delgado.

In a statement, her lawyer Spencer Aronfeld said, "This is not medical malpractice. We are suing for battery, an unauthorized assault on this baby. They took a knife to him without his parent's permission."

"The baby was in neonatal intensive care with complications from a birth-related infection," added her lawyer. "They took the baby out and amputated healthy tissue from the penis in an irreversible procedure."

"It was horrific, quite frankly," said Aronfeld. "The parents were very explicit they did not want him circumcised, and [the hospital] had asked the parents repeatedly."

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